Matthew on Cee Cat Play
Matthew Koenig started out racing motorcycles. His wife was the horse lover. When they got married and wanted a family, racing motorcycles didn’t make sense, so he picked up trail riding. But Matthew still enjoyed competition so he began to look for something to challenge him. A nearby cutting horse trainer got Matthew intrigued and two years later, Matthew is the owner of three cutting horses and going strong in the sport.
Matthew enjoys all aspects of cutting from the breeding game to the intricacies of training a smart, athletic horse. Matthew’s next goal is to train his own horse with the help of his trainer.
His greatest achievement so far is winning the 250 Non Pro at the San Benito County Cutting and at the most recent show where he marked his first 74.
Matthew’s favorite thing about cutting is the people. He said they are so nice compared to other sports. He also enjoys how smart the horses are, working cows and the unpredictability of the sport. He said that with most sports, the people who are really good have been doing it since they were young, but with cutting you can get good even if you start at a later in life.
Why Matthew Uses CHTO:
“I use it because I like to research whatever I’m doing. I really like to get into the nuts and bolts of things. And to continually ask my trainer questions…He can’t always relay the message in a way I understand, he’s a great teacher, but some of the things he’ll say in the beginning don’t make sense. So I watched a ton of videos. You get different people’s perspectives and ways of explaining things and they go into way more detail. Whatever it is, like working the flag you can watch 15 videos on 15 trainers working the flag and how they view working the flag and see everybody’s different style.”
“I thought it would make me a better rider getting to watch as many people as I could so I could take what made sense to me and what works for me… I really like how much is on [CHTO] and I can watch as much as my heart desires and then go bug my trainer about it…We go to the trainer’s 2-3 times a week and if he really keeps hammering on the same thing I will really look at every video I can on that particular issue…My trainer only has so many ways to say something.”
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